The University of Minnesota Duluth seemed to have found the spark it needed early on Wednesday night with senior guard Pierre Newton leading the way scoring 20 first-half points and putting the Bulldogs up 34-29 at the break of the team's Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference/Sanford Health First Round match-up. Unfortunately, the University of Sioux Falls flipped that fortune in the second half, outscoring the Bulldogs 51-40 in the final 20 minutes and holding off the home team's late-game comebacks to win 80-74 at Romano Gym.

UMD ends a season that began with much promise at 15-14 overall. The Bulldogs were ranked in both national polls for the first time in seven seasons the week of January 12, but scuffled down the stretch, falling in 11-of-13 games and seven straight to end the fourth season for head coach Matt Bowen. Sioux Falls (17-12), which finished tied for fourth place in the NSIC South Division but lost home court advantage on a tiebreaker, escapes Duluth having bested the Bulldogs twice in that stretch.

A pair of free throws by Newton put UMD up by a game-high 11 points with 6:28 remaining the opening half. The Bulldogs went three possessions without a score and saw their lead diminish down to one as the Cougars heated up. Newton would hit a three-pointer late in the period which gave UMD some of its breathing room back, but USF junior guard Mack Johnson had only begun his scoring for the night in attempting to follow up a fiery three-point shooting effort the last time Sioux Falls came to Romano Gym. He'd score 22 points in the second half, hitting 10-of-10 free throws and a pair of threes along the way to finish with a team-high 28.

Sioux Falls took its first lead at 46-45 and opened the second half with a 19-11 run. Moments later, senior guard Taylor Lavery would be fouled beyond the arc, hitting three free throws to tie the game at 48-all. The Cougars would extend that run scoring the game's next 12 points before senior forward Brendon Pineda put and end to it with a lay-up with 9:52 remaining. Senior guard Junior Coleman scored lay-ups on back-to-back possessions to bring the Bulldogs back within six, but Johnson hit a three to keep UMD at bay. Turnovers by USF got the Bulldogs back into the game as a lay-up by Newton pulled UMD within three at 70-67. The final minute saw the Bulldogs heat up, cutting the lead down to 75-74 but never able to get the game-tying or go-ahead score.

Newton led the Bulldogs with 32 points on the night but went just 3-of-8 from the floor in the second half, scoring six of his 12 points after the break from the free throw line. Sioux Falls hit 5-of-9 three-point attempts in the second half while UMD finished 3-of-12 including a surprising rim-out that would have tied the game with 18 seconds remaining by Lavery, who had a rare off-night scoring each of his 9 points at the charity stripe. Pineda wrapped up his Bulldog career with an 11-point, eight-rebound effort. Senior forward Jordan Stotts had the game's only double-double for Sioux Falls with 17 points and 10 boards.

Along with Lavery, Pineda, Newton, and Coleman, the Bulldogs bid farewell to senior forward Kristofer Jackson and junior center Jake Harder with the final buzzer. Newton's 16.9 career points per game is the fifth-best all-time average at UMD. Lavery put his name in the record book with a 14-of-14 performance from the free throw line on Jan. 9 earlier this season against Bemidji State University, tying the most by a Bulldog in a single game without a miss. Jackson had a Bulldog program-best six blocked shots on Nov. 19, 2013 against the University of Wisconsin-Stout. Harder, who began his collegiate career as the team's student manager, finished with 46 games played for UMD.